Sheet material dispensing package



Feb. 20, 1968 H. N. NELSON MATERIAL DISPENSING PACKAGE SHEET 2Sheets-$heet 1 Filed June 9, 1966 Feb. 20, 1968 H. N NELSON SHEETMATERIAL DISPENSING PACKAGE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 9, 1966 UnitedStates Patent 3,369,700 SHEET MATERIAL DISPENSING PACKAGE Howard N.Nelson, Neenah, Wis., assignor to Kimberly- Clark Corporation, Neenah,Wis., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 9, 1966, Ser. No. 556,401 8Claims. (Cl. 221-63) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A compact package for astack of flexible sheet material such as facial tissue. The stack oftissue is folded on itself in the form of an inverted U. The legs of theU are flared outwardly from each other and cooperate with an outercontainer to prevent the stack from shifting within the container duringhandling and shipment.

This invention relates to an improvement in the packaging of sheetmaterials. More specifically the invention is concerned with thepackaging of facial tissue type sheets, and especially concerns a morecompact package for such tissues.

Compact packaging for counter-displayed goods has many advantages.Obvious advantages include economies resulting from the fact thatsmaller package dimensions require less shipping and storage space andreduce the amount of finishing materials used. Less obvious advantagesinclude better utilization of shelf space in stores, and more usablespace for the consumer at the point of use.

Manufacturers of facial tissues have reduced package size in variousways. One of these involves compressing the stacks of tissues beforepackaging whereby almost twice as many tissues may be contained in aconventional size package as before. Another approach is to fold thestack of tissues on itself whereby a carton having smaller overalloutside dimensions may be used. An example of the latter type packagemay be found in US. Patent 2,656,916 which issued Oct. 27, 1953. Whilepackage dimensions were reduced in the latter case, it was found thatthe contents often shifted during shipment and handling and, as aresult, when a consumer opened the carton to use the tissues, he oftenfound the tissues were not properly oriented with the dispensingopening, and could not be dispensed properly. The present inventionovercomes this latter problem.

Accordingly, the primary object of the invention is to provideimprovements in a dispensing package in which a folded stack ofinterleaved sheets is arranged in a compact container havingsubstantially smaller outer dimensions than conventional packages.

Another object is to arrange interleaved tissues within a compactpackage in a manner to prevet undesirable shifting or displacement ofthe contents during shipment and use.

Still another object is to provide an improved compact packagingarrangement for a stack of sheet material which his been folded onitself into a symmetrical inverted U- s ape.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent byreference to the following specification and drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective X-ray view of a stack of interleaved sheets asthey appear inside the carton when disposed in accordance with theimproved arrangement of this invention.

FIGURES 2, 3, and 4 are perspective views of a forming means which maybe used to fold a stack of tissues in accordance with this invention forinsertion in a compact container. The figures show sequentially thevarious configurations a stack of tissues assumes as it is being foldedbefore insertion into a suitable carton.

FIGURE 5 illustrates a package containing a folded stack of tissueswithout incorporating the advantages of this invention.

In FIGURE 2, a stack of tissues 11 is shown in its starting position informing trough 12 which may comprise a bottom plate 13 of sheet metal orthe like, a rlght hand molding board 14, a left hand molding board 15,and a central blade type ascending ramp 16. The leading portion of ramp16 starts flush with plate 13 and gradually increases in height, endingin a flat blade 19 with the top edge of blade 19 parallel with plate 13.Molding boards 14 and 15 have inwardly disposed upper ledges 20 and 21which gradually curve upward as the molding boards 14 and 15 convergetoward each other, ending in a pair of fiat parallel side plates 22 and23.

Additional views showing the sequential forming of the tissue stack intoa symmetrical inverted U-shaped configuration are provided in FIGURES 3and 4. Stack 11, which preferably comprises interleaved sheets, ispushed along plate 13 of the illustrated forming device by suitablemeans in the direction of arrow 17 (FIGURE 2). As the stack moves in thedirection shown, the entire stack is gradually doubled on itself, beingfolded in half along a central fold line 18 which parallels the plane ofthe lowermost sheet in the stack before the stack is doubled on itself.When interleaved sheets are employed, fold line 18 extends transverselyof the lines on which the individual sheets are folded. As stack 11 ispushed forward along ascending ramp 16 the side edges of the stack areurged inwardly while in sliding contact with molding boards 14 and 15;the upper edges of the stack are held down by the molding board upperledges 20 and 21; and the bottom of the stack is in frictional slidingcontact with plate 13. As stack 11 is pushed farther along ramp 16, thestack assumes an inverted U configuration in which the free ends of thelegs of the U are flared outwardly. The height of blade 19 issubstantially less than one-half the length of stack 11 so that theflared configuration of each of the lower ends of the inverted U-shapedstack is maintained as the stack reaches the desired final configurationin the confined area between plates 22 and 23.

The stack 11, while being maintained in this inverted U configurationwith the lower ends flared outwardly is then inserted into a restrainingwrapping means whose interior dimensions closely fit the exteriordimensions of the folded stack.

The finished package 29 is illustrated more clearly in FIGURE 1. Thebroken lines represent the outlines of a rectangular carton orrestraining wrapper. The restraining wrapper contains a stack of tissues11, folded on itself in a symmetrical inverted U configuration alongmedial line 18. The free ends, 24 and 25, forming the legs of the pU-shaped stack are flared outwardly in directions opposite from eachother to give the ture.

The exterior carton or restraining wrapper, represented by the brokenlines, has top, bottom side and end walls, indicated by referencenumerals 30, 31, 32 and 33 respectively, which walls snugly enclose thefolded stack and hold it in the upright condition shown. The flared outarrangement of the lower free ends of the U-folded stack cooperate withthe adjacent restraining walls of the exterior or wrapper to act asstructural members which hold the folded stack upright. In other words,the bottom surface 34 of the lowest flared out sheet in the folded stackbears against bottom wall 31, and the flared out edges 36 of asubstantial number of the remaining sheets in the stack bear againstside wall 32 as do their counterparts on the opposite side. As a result,the illustrated package may be subjected to the extremely rigorousconditions inherent in commercial shipping and handling without stack astable upright struchaving the stack shift to any serious extent fromthe upright condition established when originally packaged. Accordingly,the tissues in the inverted U-shaped stack will remain securely in thedesired upright position to permit sequential dispensing from the top ofthe stack through a suitable dispensing aperture such as may be formedwhen removable panel 35, is removed from the carton or other exteriorwrapping means by the ultimate user. While an oval aperture is shown,any suitable form of dispensing opening may be provided.

To more clearly illustrate the advantages of the improved arrangementover the prior art, FIGURE 5 is presented to show in somewhatexaggerated form, how

a package containing a stack of folded tissues would appear immediatelyafter packaging if no steps were taken, as taught herein, to providestable supporting means. Such a stack 41, when simply doubled on itselfaround a central fold line 48, automatically forms a point at 43 as thefree ends of tissues fan out, as occurs when no physical restrictionsare placed on the edges of the individual sheets during the foldingoperation. The doubledover tissue stack then has a configuration whichgradually tapers from point 43 to the outside surfaces of thedoubled-over stack where the outer sheets meet the side walls of theexterior container or wrapper. The dimension measured from the closedtop of such a conventionally folded U-shaped stack to the open bottom ofthe inverted U at point 43 is considerably longer than a similardimension measured from top to bottom of the improved stack folded andformed in accordance with this invention. Accordingly, when the foldedstack 41 of the unimproved configuration is packaged by insertion into asuitable container or wrapper, the container must of necessity haveconsiderable more height to accommodate the unimproved folded stack thanis necessary for the container or wrapper used to accommodate theimproved folded stack. The unimproved arrangement leaves large,unoccupied waste spaces 45 and 47 at opposing bottom corners. Thearrangement shown in FIGURE 5 has little inherent stability, and even ifpoint 43 is crushed down for more compact packaging, the contents arenot stable and tend to shift within the container or wrapper duringshipment and storage, even under the most favorable handling conditions.

In order to test the differences between packaging arrangementsutilizing the unimproved folded stack and packaging arrangementsutilizing the improved folded and formed stack of this invention,several corrugated containers containing cartons of tissues packaged inaccordance with the two methods described, were subjected to shipment bycommercial carrier. No special instructions were given with respect tohandling. The tissue stacks of both configurations were packed insung-fitting dispensing cartons, and these paperboard cartons in turnwere enclosed in conventional corrugated shipping containers. After theshipping containers arrived at their destination, they were opened andthe cartons removed from the containers for examination. Each of thefolded stacks which did not have flared ends showed evidence of shiftingto a degree which hampered dispensing. None of the folded stacks whichhad flared ends showed evidence of shifting to any measurable degree,and were defect free with respect to their orientation with thedispensing opening of the carton.

The restraining exterior wrapper utilized for packages of this type mostcommonly comprises a disposable paperboard carton with a removable panelin the top wall which forms a dispensing opening when removed. It isunderstood that newly available plastic materials of semi-rigidconstruction may also be used to form a similar disposable carton. It isalso conceivable that the outer restraining wrapper may comprise paperor thin plastic film which would be utilized to hold the folded stack inits desired configuration until ready for use. In the latterarrangement, the improved folded stack is more readily adapted for usein cooperation with a rigid permanent type dispenser made of metal,wood, heavy duty plastic or the like. Before insertion into such apermanent dispenser, the lightweight restraining wrapper of the typedescribed above may be either wholly or partially removed.

Also, while only one means of folding the tissue stack to obtain thedesired inverted U-shaped configurations with outwardly flared legs hasbeen shown and described herein, it will be apparent that other suitablemeans may be employed to fold the stack and flare out the legs whilestill obtaining satisfactory results.

The described arrangement is particularly useful for packaging facialtissue sheets, however it is apparent that it can also be applied topaper towels, industrial wiping sheets, waxed tissues and the like. Thearrangement is also useful for holding a folded stack of sheets uprightin a restraining exterior package even if the sheets are notinterleaved. However in such cases the entire top wall would need to beremoved for access to the sheets.

It will be further apparent to those skilled in the art, that othersuitable changes, modifications and variations may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A compact packaging arrangement for sheet material comprising a stackof facial type tissue sheets folded on itself and disposed in arestraining wrapper having top, bottom, side and end walls; said stackbeing folded on itself in the form of a symmetrical inverted U with thelegs of said U being flared outwardly; said folded stack being disposedwithin said constraining wrapper with the bottom surface of the flaredout portion of the lowest sheet in said folded stack bearing against thebottom wall of said wrapper and a substantial number of the flared outside edges of the remaining sheets in said stack bearing against therespective side walls of said wrapper.

2. The arrangement of claim 1 in which the sheets in said stack areinterleaved.

3. The arrangement of claim 1 in which the restraining wrapper comprisesa rigid material having a dispensing aperture in the top wall.

4. The arrangement of claim 1 in which the top wall of said restrainingwrapper is provided with a removable panel adapted to provide adispensing aperture therein.

5. The arrangement of claim 4 in which the restraining wrapper comprisesa disposable paperboard carton.

6. The arrangement of claim 4 in which the restraining wrapper comprisesrigid plastic.

7. The arrangement of claim 4 in which the restraining wrapper comprisespaper.

8. The arrangement of claim 4 in which the restraining wrapper comprisesthin plastic film.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,085,649 6/1937 Cluck 206572,195,622 4/1940 Fourness et al. 221-63 2,549,433 4/1951 Curry 206-67 X2,656,916 10/1953 Henderson 221 3,001,645 9/ 1961 Hernberg 206573,265,241 8/1966 McColgan 221-47 SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner.

